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Working Group Meeting Protocol
Within the marketing working group we utilize a lightweight protocol for defining generally what will be discussed at a meeting and handling the actions that fall out of each issue. Below we describe the a two step process which defines this protocol and the recording of minutes. The protocol is extremely light weight as we don't want to create a lot of work for getting items in the pipeline nor do we want such a protocol to serve as a second job for contributors who are not paid to engage to in the group.
Each participant who brings an agenda item to the table is generally responsible for following up on the agenda item after the meeting either by closing the item if consensus was not reached, flagging the issue to be re-discussed, or closing and linking it to it from action item(s) created based on the discussion. There of course may be situations where an action may be created by a chair or co-chair and delegated to either themselves or an appropriate member in the group. In general, the chair or co-chair consults with a contributor before assigning said action item.
It should be noted that at the end of a meeting if there is remaining time, misc items may still be discussed, but in general this should be avoided.
Minutes are to be kept for each meeting to the best of the group's abilities. It's not important that every single word is captured, the gist of discussions is satisfactory. Before the start of each meeting a chair or co-chair will state they are keeping minutes or may ask someone within the group to keep minutes. Minutes are to follow the general format provided in our minutes template. Minutes are to be checked into our git repository in the minutes directory at some point shortly after a meeting.
In order to streamline meetings, avoid random conversation, and document what the participants in the group wish to discuss we have a concept of Agenda Item(s). This part of the process requires the participant to thoughtfully consider what it is they are bringing to the table, why they are bringing it to the table, and what potential action items may fall out of the discussion (anticipated or not).
Specifically, prior to a meeting participants should open up an issue on this repository using the prescribed Agenda Item template. Click here to see an example.
Note: It is not mandatory for an agenda item to always precede an action item. Some times an action item can fall out of a discussion where there is enough consensus in said discussion to warrant the direct creation of an action item.
Participants should give a synopsis of the item and/or a rationale for bringing it to the group's attention. We all have ideas, but we don't have an infinite amount of time. Thus please take your time when providing a background.
The objective(s) section should consist of a task list or simple list that defines what potential action items the author thinks should fall out of the discussion. Some times this won't be known prior to a discussion and if this is the case it's ok to leave this blank, but this in general should not be the case if one has thought about the agenda item earnestly.
When an agenda item has been discussed, consensus has been reached on the issue, and action items have been defined, then the participant is to create an action item issue with references to the original agenda item and link to the meeting minutes in which the item was discussed.
Note: It is not mandatory for an agenda item to always precede an action item. Some times an action item can fall out of async discussion where there is enough consensus in said discussion to warrant the direct creation of an action item.
Click here to see what an action item issue looks like.
The background should be a brief summary of the issue, often times a simple sentence with a link back to the original agenda item is sufficient.
Tasks should be a a task list of actions that must be taken to resolve the issue at hand.
Any related resources such as minutes document in the repo, other issues, pull requests etc. should be added here.